Recently in Defamation (Libel / Slander) Category

Casey Anthony is being sued by meter reader Roy Kronk for defamation. Kronk discovered 2-year-old Caylee Anthony's remains in the woods near Casey Anthony's home in 2008.

He reported his findings to the police. 

But he later found himself a crucial part of Anthony's defense: he was accused of killing Caylee. He was also accused of putting the body where it was found, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The defense also said he was "morally bankrupt," and that he "took the body and hid it."

A class action against a New York City dentist, sued over a contract she required patients to sign, could change the way medical professionals try to protect their online reputations.

A former patient filed the suit against Stacy Makhnevich, a dentist and opera singer who touts herself as "the classical singer dentist of New York," the New York Post reports.

Makhnevich required her patients to sign an agreement promising not to post negative reviews about her online, the NYC dentist lawsuit states. In return, Makhnevich promised to adhere to federal patient-privacy laws.

Facebook, Twitter, online message boards. Increased technology and the existence of social networks make it all-too-easy for someone to insult you online. But when does an "insult" turn into a cause of action under defamation law? What is defamation exactly?

For starters, "defamation" encompasses two types of civil wrongs. The first one is libel, which normally must be in writing. The second one is slander, which usually consists of oral communications.

Defamation typically requires the following several elements:

Former Attorney General and Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer is facing allegations of libel for the first time since he took to the airwaves and launched his career in political commentary.

The Spitzer libel suits, filed by two former executives at Marsh & McLennan, a global insurance brokerage firm, are asking for a combined total of $90 million, pointing to negative statements Spitzer made in an article written for the Washington Post's Slate.com.

An article that doesn't even mention them by name.

It's more legal trouble for Casey Anthony as a nanny lawsuit for defamation, filed by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, is back underway.

Anthony had told investigators and family members that a woman with the same name, Zenaida Gonzalez, had kidnapped her daughter.

Police officers had questioned Fernandez-Gonzalez about the incident, but later it was revealed that the babysitter that Anthony had referred to as "Zanny" did not really exist, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

What's the latest twist surrounding the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case? The alleged DSK victim's lawsuit, filed against the New York Post for libel.

The Post had published some stories that the hotel maid is none too happy about.

On July 2, the Post published a story with the headline "Maid cleaning up as 'hooker'," reports CNN. The story goes on to cite anonymous sources that say that the maid was doubling as a prostitute and getting money from male guests.

Write one errant TripAdvisor review, and a lawsuit will come your way.

Carleton Hotel, located in Oak Park, Illinois, is suing ex-patrons Michael Gladstone and Liora Braun. Gladstone and Braun wrote a TripAdvisor review slamming the hotel for having bedbugs - and ignoring their complaints, according to the lawsuit.

The TripAdvisor review in question describes Gladstone and Braun's version of the events. They claim that they found a bedbug in their room. They promptly notified the manager about the situation, according to the complaint.

Would you be okay with having bodyguards working for R&B legend Patti LaBelle attack you? Probably not, and neither is Richard King, 23, who is now suing LaBelle for the alleged assault.

The attack occurred at an airport in Houston. King was the one who threw the first punch, and he was intoxicated and trying to get into LaBelle's limo - or so said LaBelle's bodyguards in a statement to the Houston police.

Well, those might not be all the right facts, according to a surveillance tape that was recently released by King's attorneys. In fact, a whole other story comes to light.

The term cyberbullying has become part of most Americans' vocabulary, after surfacing in high schools and universities nationwide. In the past few months, a rash of teen suicides resulting from bullying, cyber and otherwise, has renewed the concern by teens, parents and lawmakers about cyberbullying and how to prevent it from harming or taking the lives of our kids. Even President Obama got involved with the YouTube campaign "It Gets Better Project," aimed at helping LGBT teens deal with bullying.

If your child is cyberbullied, what can you do? Many online sources have excellent recommendations for practical assistance a parent can offer a child. Good suggestions include switching phone numbers and social media accounts, adding new privacy protections on Facebook or MySpace, providing counseling if needed and even switching schools if necessary.

But if parents want a legal option, what can they do?

We recently covered the rise of sites like Yelp reviewing businesses. We specifically looked at how to avoid being defamed by customers. The post offered pieces of advice for business owners concerned about defamatory reviews. One piece of advice: if a customer complains, you should confirm, confess and correct; and go the extra mile for a trying customer, but not the extra hundred miles.

But what to do about customers who leave comments that clearly cross the line into untrue, spiteful and legally actionable claims? The New York Times recently examined such issues involving hotel reviews on TripAdvisor.com.

TripAdvisor reviews that are potentially defamatory have become an issue for the site, which in the past did not allow property owners to post responses to guest reviews. Some hotel owners have demanded that the site do more to monitor guest comments and take action when reviews could be considered defamatory.